1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal recorder/reproducer for recording a signal into a recording medium and reproducing a signal recorded in the recording medium, and a signal recording/reproducing method applied the signal recorder/reproducer.
2. Description of Related Art
The video signal recorder/reproducer using an optical disc, for example, as the recording medium, has to include buffer memories for recording and reproduction systems, respectively, to compensate a latency or waiting time caused by a track jump, seek, etc. of an optical disc drive.
In the conventional video signal recorder/reproducer, the buffer memories include two, one for the recording system and one for the reproduction system, as mentioned above, either of which is used according to which is designated by the user, recording mode or reproduction mode.
For the video signal recorder/reproducer, it has been demanded more and more to reproduce any portion of an already recorded video signal while recording a video signal contiguous to the recorded video signal.
To this end, the response of the reproduction system of the apparatus should be improved. However, since in the conventional video signal recorder/reproducer, the separate buffer memories for the recording system and reproduction system are used in the recording mode and reproduction mode, respectively, the method of controlling the memory and hardware structure are complicated and the buffer memory for the recording system cannot be used for the reproduction system. Therefore, another buffer memory has to be additionally provided for the reproduction system to improve the response of the reproduction system.
Accordingly, the present invention has an object to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a signal recorder/reproducer having a simplified hardware configuration and adapted to suppress underflow and overflow possibly occurring in a memory means, and a signal recording/reproducing method applied in the signal recorder/reproducer.
The above object can be achieved by providing a signal recorder/reproducer to record a signal into a recording medium and reproduce a signal recorded in the recording medium, comprising:
integrated memory means having memory areas for a recording system and reproduction system, respectively, of which the allocation is variable;
controlling means for controlling the allocation of the memory areas of the integrated memory means depending upon in which mode the apparatus is to be, recording or reproduction mode.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the controlling means controls the integrated memory means to use the memory areas only for the recording system when the apparatus is in the recording mode while using them only for the reproduction system when the apparatus is in the reproduction mode.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the controlling means controls the integrated memory means to use the memory areas for the recording and reproduction systems, respectively, when the apparatus is in a simultaneous recording/reproduction mode.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an overflow signal developed in the memory area for the recording system when the apparatus is in a simultaneous recording/reproduction, is written into the memory area allocated to the reproduction system under the control of the controlling means. The integrated memory means is used for data edition.
The above object can also be achieved by providing a method of recording a signal into a recording medium and reproducing a signal recorded in the recording medium, wherein allocation of a memory area for a recording system and memory area for a reproduction system in a memory unit is variable depending upon in which mode the apparatus is to be, recording or reproduction mode.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the memory areas in the memory unit are used only for the recording system when the apparatus is in the recording mode while they are used only for the reproduction system when the apparatus is in the reproduction mode.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the memory areas in the memory unit are used for the recording and reproduction systems, respectively, when the apparatus is in simultaneous recording/reproduction mode.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an overflow signal developed in the memory area for the recording system when the apparatus is in a simultaneous recording/reproduction mode, is written into the memory area allocated to the reproduction system.
As mentioned above, according to the present invention, the buffer memories for the recording and reproduction systems, respectively, of the signal recorder/reproducer are integrated to simplify the controlling method and hardware configuration, and when the apparatus is in the reproduction mode, the buffer memory for the recording system is allocated for the reproduction system to improve the response of the reproduction system without any additional buffer memory used in the apparatus.